Lo There, Do I See
by Aisling-Siobhan
Summary: Written for the 2014 Loki Month: #3. The only reason he had for going back to Asgard was that he owed it to her. Missing scene from The Dark World.


Just back from seeing Mojo (Ben didn't sign my program. He touched it, but then someone called him away. So close!) so I'm awake enough to post this now :P

Here's my contribution for Prompt 3 (9th-12th February 2014): MCU appreciation.

"**Lo There, Do I See**"

**Disclaimer: ** Avengers, Thor, Loki, etc belong to Marvel, Stan Lee, et co. I make

no money from this and own nothing, don't sue.

**Summary: ** Written for the 2014 Loki Month. The only reason he had for going back to Asgard was that he owed it to her. Missing scene from The Dark World.

**Warnings:** Missing Scene. Thor: the Dark World. Language. Character Death - Frigga. Loki faked his death. No one knows that. Loki Month. Allfamily.

**Rating: ** PG15.

**A/N**: Honestly, can any of you believe that Loki would go back to Asgard to tell Odin about his 'death' and then _not_ visit his mother's stone ship/grave field?

_XXX_

**Words****:** 1,357

**Chapter 1**

The Queen had sailed toward Valhalla before Loki was released from his prison cell. He had known, during the riot, that something was wrong; something had gone horribly wrong, and that likely it had been because of him. He had sent Algrim out of the dungeons; Loki had shown the Dark Elf how to find Odin and Thor... and Frigga. But it wasn't until Odin stopped before him four nights later, with his shoulders stooped and his head bowed and placed his shaking hands upon the glass of Loki's cell that Loki knew.

"The Queen is dead," Odin had said, and it rang like church bells in Loki's mind: over, and over, getting louder and louder until they cut off with the pull of a rope, silent only to start again. The Queen is dead.

His voice had been hoarse, and he'd croaked out a plea to attend, to mourn and offer her his blessings and a grave good (something that she had gifted him, something meaningful, something only of their own). Loki had wanted to weep for her, where all of Asgard would too be weeping, so that he would not be ridiculed for it.

He wanted to pray for her, so that she would be accepted into Valhalla, with the grave gifts that befitted her station so she could remain as much a Queen in death as she had been in life. He wanted to throw himself across her chest and hold her, smell the scent of the perfume she would have been sprayed with, and beg her to wake up; he wanted her to make things better just by being there.

But as before, Odin only said, "No, Loki."

So he had been left alone in his grief, (like he had been left alone in the revelation of his heritage, like he had been left to fall alone, picked second after Thor as they hung from the shattered Bifrost bridge). And then Thor had come storming into the dungeon, like a knight out of a fairy-tale, seeking vengeance and bloodshed and wanting to save the world (and a fair maiden along the way). Loki had gone with him, seeking a little vengeance of his own: Algrim would suffer for his actions, but most of all he would suffer for Loki's mistake, for Loki had been the one to help him escape. To thank him, Algrim had murdered his mother.

Once the Dark Elf had been dealt with, and Loki was sure Thor believed his ruse, the God's first thought was for his mother. He didn't go straight back to Asgard (though he had looked forward to the look upon Odin's face, imagining the horror that would cross it at the thought of someone else taking Loki's life, or the relief that Odin would not have to do his own dirty work and kill Loki himself). He went instead to Vanaheimr, slipping through the doorway at the other end of the secret path, and he wandered unheeded through the markets and streets until he had collected as much as he could reasonably smuggle away in his pockets. He had no money on him, and could no longer charge his purchases to the treasury of Asgard, nor did he have the time to trade for the items he wanted as he once used to, doing magic tricks and playing silly games and songs for the entertainment of others (a silly, little boy, thinking he was so grown up). So he stole them. Stolen though they were, they had been picked out with love, and Loki hoped that his mother would like them.

He considered speaking to Odin first, but his fear that Odin might see through his illusion kept him from approaching the throne room. He wouldn't risk being imprisoned again; he wanted to be free, but more importantly, he wanted to bless his mother's journey.

He didn't ask for directions, for none were needed. The more important the person the larger the stone ship. The more monuments were raised upon the grave field. Loki could see it from the window of his old room, having appeared there straight from Vanaheimr. The stones took up the entire field, creating one giant oval, pointed at both ends where the prow and stern were buried and wide around the rest of the buried vessel. Usually they waited a week until the burial, wanting to carve a ship from stone that was fitting of the deceased (the common folk were buried sooner, of course); for Frigga to have been buried within four days of her death though, Loki knew everyone must have worked day and night without rest. She had been loved, Asgard's Queen, by none more so than her son.

Loki teleported to the grave site. In his hands, he held the tokens he had stolen in her name, and he laid the grave goods carefully at the base of every second stone that outlined her memorial. He hadn't been able to wish farewell to her body, nor to her soul, but to her memory Loki could and would pray. He'd have to hurry, knowing well that the memorial of the Queen would be well protected, and he had no desire to end up imprisoned again.

"Lo there, do I see my father," he began to whisper. His hands were clasped in front of his chest, fingers linked rather than laced, as if he were cupping someone else's hand (and he should have been, the prayer should have been chanted in a group, but as always Loki was alone).

"Lo there do I see my mother and my sister and my brothers. Lo there I do see the line of my people back to the beginning. Lo they do call to me they bid me to take my place among them, in the hallowed halls of Valhalla," he paused long enough to viciously rub the tears from his face. Loki sniffled as he continued speaking, voice catching on the word 'live'. "Where the brave shall live forever!"**1**

Once he was finished speaking, he bowed low in the direction of the largest stone, the one that was engraved with her name, and he whispered his love and his regret and his hate for the one who had killed her. When no answer was forthcoming, Loki offered a last, sad smile at a place he would probably never see again, and then he teleported once more. His shape changed as he moved, height lessening, face widening and hair lightening: when he was done, a guard stood in his place, dressed in the customary gold armour of Asgard's army.

Odin lifted his head as Loki approached the throne.

"I found a body," Loki informed his borrowed body's King.

Odin watched him in silence, before his eyes lowered. His first thought would have been Thor, Loki knew, except that Thor had walked passed him on the way out of the throne room as Loki entered it. Odin's first thought was always for Thor. "Loki." It wasn't a question when Odin finally spoke, but a truth that he did not want confirmed. For whom else could it have been whose death would have warranted the attention of the King? Loki lowered his eyes respectfully as Odin slumped back into his throne, deflating like a balloon that had been popped. When Odin's eyes were averted again, Loki glanced back at him from the corner of his own eyes, gleefully (though his mouth stayed downturned) taking in the pain that flashed, briefly, across the King's face.

Good, Loki thought. See how it fails to be unable to mourn respectfully, he was careful to keep his thoughts off of his face even as he mentally spat in Odin's face. He had brought no body back, and Thor had left him like rubbish upon that wasteland of a planet, but this time it would be them left behind the glass, watching and pleading for the right to say their final farewells, to send Loki's body properly to its last journey, while he was the one to say, "No."

But perhaps he gave his not-family too much credit.

**The End**

**1 **– Viking Funeral Prayer (Norway ca.500-1000 A.D.)


End file.
